Mia of the Heralds
by Hida O-Hinku
Summary: Long after the Fall of Notch, a new darkness is rising. Now one girl must travel to each of the Five Cities in order to find a way to stop it.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: History, or Legend?

At some point, long ago, we forgot our past. As a result, we came up with legends to fill in the gaps. Some tell of golden armies defeating monsters of the seas, others of how the Five Cities came to be. In the end, we forgot one of our most important memories: the story of the fall of humanity. However, just like with everything else, a legend rose in its place.

Once, we were at the top of the food chain. We had everything under our rule, ourselves being ruled by the wise king Notch. Our decline started when he departed to the Aether, promising to return when the world needed him most. In the meantime, an important man rose to power, restoring order, for the most part. It was not to be, however. A sage, whose name is lost to time, made a certain prophecy: a great darkness would come for the princess.

The king was certain that he could protect his daughter, who was only a few years old at the time, from certain death. He made a gigantic tower, tucked away where no one was to ever be able to find it, and armed it with the best guards he could find. But they all failed. Years later, the princess was gone, and the tower was destroyed.

After that came the siege. The pigmen were the first to go. As word spread, the masses panicked, some deciding to escape to the End. After everything had been destroyed, the survivors split into groups, forming the Five Cities. Those that didn't fit in any group retreated to the Frozen.

Our story starts in the City of Mountainwall, in an organization called the Heralds, with a girl named Mia.

**Sorry this chapter is short, it's mostly exposition. This was supposed to be based off of I am Steve, but it wound up going its own way.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Job  
I closed my book and set it back down on the small, hard bed. When you graduated the Academy, depending upon what career you chose, you would get a gift. Heralds got books in which to record personal thoughts and theories. If you saw something weird, you recorded it. Mine was nothing special, with the plain leather cover and latch. The only thing that was decorating it was a small, copper symbol inlaid with glass made to look like gems.  
Figuring that I better go to bed, I got a look at myself in the mirror in the open bathroom. To be blunt, I wasn't anything special. Straight black hair, light grey eyes. I was scrawny, but that actually helped me with my job. As a Herald, my job is to ride around and deliver packages. I was proud to be one of the fastest.  
A loud knock at my door startled me away from my thoughts.  
"Mia? Mia, are you awake? The Boss wants you." said the all too familiar voice.  
"Yeah, just give me a sec." I replied.  
What on earth could they want from me at this hour? It was way too dangerous to go out once the sun went down, much less when it was 10:00 p.m. At least I was still wearing my uniform.  
The Boss's office was normally warm and inviting, but right now it seemed like it wanted me dead. There was no fire in the fireplace, and the only light was coming from the moon, the pale light being filtered through the windows. At least the Boss seemed to be normal, albeit tired. The Boss was more a friend than a boss; the nickname was more a teasing one than a formal one. He was also small, but one of the oldest. Heralds tend to die young. He even had a bit of grey in his brown hair.  
"Mia, we have a job for you. We're giving it to you because you are the only one that we can trust with it. It will be dangerous, but we're certain you can handle it. You are to be delivering a letter to the Frozen-'  
"The Frozen?! Are you crazy?! It's filled with bandits, and I'm only mildly skilled with a bow!"  
"That is why you have our permission to hire somebody to accompany you. You leave in fifteen minutes. Do Not Fail."  
"Yes, sir."  
Twenty minutes later, I was out of the compound. Little did I know what I was getting into.  
Sorry that this chapter was still pretty short, I'm working on it. I am taking OCs, you can either write it in the comments or PM me. I'll need a way to identify the character (Name/nickname), a physical description, and a personality. You will get credit, but I can do whatever I want with the character.


	3. Chapter 3

Day 1

Tonight is the first night in my new tower. I've been travelling all day, so I'm exhausted, but my mind is too cruel to let me sleep. It was Lord Vale's idea, to try and protect the Maiden of Light (me) but I find it to be a foolish idea. All because the Water Sage Tyena and her stupid "prediction." Great Darkness. Yeah, right. She's just jealous because I have more say than her in court. I never wanted to have this stupid job. People automatically assume I'm some princess, or that I have some sort of power or knowledge. I'm just an average teenager. If I wasn't the Maiden of Light, I'd be some poor farm girl living by the Lighthouse.

Day 2

Now that I have had at least some sleep, the tower doesn't seem so bad. The overall compound is fairly large, with a town within twenty kilometers. Otherwise it's just forest as far as the eye can see. There are several buildings within the walls, all having different purposes. One building is for servants and guards quarters, one is the kitchen and "Great Hall." That being where everyone ate. On the other side of the courtyard is the Tower. My room is on top with a great view of the forest. Below me is where all of my assistants sleep, and on the bottom is my favorite, the Library. It's mostly empty, the books in there are boring and dusty, and otherwise the room is used for storage. The reason I like it is that nobody seems to look for me there. I disappeared for almost two hours before heading back up to my room.

I was then immediately reprimanded by my head assistant.

"Where have you been? We have been looking all over for you!" Assistants are supposed to follow me around and write down if I see the future of something. I didn't really pay attention when I was told about them. Anyway, my head assistant is really trying to get me kicked out of court, mostly by making me seem as I can handle nothing. The crotchety old lady was short and stout, had the most annoying voice, and loved to get in other people's business.

I faked a confused look. "Whatever do you mean? I've been in my room this entire time, studying my books. You must be losing your memory, for I am certain that I told you that was what I was to be doing."

_There's no way she believes that._

I was totally pushing it. She had probably gone into my room to see that I wasn't there. She was probably going to raise the amount of guards on me, or try to send me back to the palace. Instead she looked taken aback.

"I apologize milady, for I truly must have forgotten. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be continuing on with my own studies. As you will." Then she just scurried off. _Holy crap. That actually worked._

**This is just a short excerpt from a diary of a Maiden of Light. Who is She? We don't know (Well, I know but I'm not telling you yet.) Next week, we'll be back to Mia and her observations.**


	4. 283

#283

I probably could have put up more of a fight than I did. What could possibly be so important that someone needs to risk their life? It was only a tiny brown paper wrapped _thing._ Who could even have the power to order us to do this? The Boss wouldn't just send us to the Frozen if he could help it.

All at once the hopelessness of the whole situation hit me like a brick. I had already taken it, so there was no going back now. There were most likely going to bandits, since they were the reason why most Heralds don't retire. Besides, there was a reason the region is called the Frozen. It snowed all the time. Snowstorms meant no sunlight, which means that monsters won't burn when day breaks. Plus, I would have to travel at night. The only light I had was of the full moon and _two glowing purple eyes._

In my head I was spitting out every curse word in my vocabulary, which was no small amount. Ends were created by some crazy scientist (I know it starts with a T) and his lab assistant. Ends could teleport, hated light, were hurt by water, would rob you blind, and would flat out murder you if you accidentally looked at them wrong. In other words, they were incredibly bad news.

Somewhere in the middle of my silent cussing, my mind got my arms to move toward my bow. My best bet would be to try and shoot it in its Ender Pearl, so that it couldn't teleport after me. However, that would be quite the feat since the target was about two inches in diameter, was swinging around rapidly, about twenty feet away, and I'm far from being the shot in the world. Not to mention I only had a dozen arrows in my quiver.

Even if I'm not the best shot, I did pride myself in being one of the fastest people in Mountainwall. I managed to lose three of my arrows before it teleported right next to me and punch me in the stomach. Gasping for air, it had hit me hard enough that I had slid off Shadow, my horse. I could even hear the gravel of the path grind together as I slid on my back. Eyes that seemed at least twenty feet away now seemed less than two feet away. Now I was really dead.

Surprisingly, a small female voice spoke up. "It is not polite to shoot at people. And you shouldn't swear. Swearing is very unbecoming of a young lady."

Still gasping for air, I replied, "Says the person who was going to rob-slash-murder me."

"You shouldn't make assumptions like that, Mia."

"How do you know my name?'

The eyes drew back and a hand in a black glove was extended. "Because I'm supposed to help you." She giggled. "Besides, you look all silly on the ground like that."

Me, being me, was immediately curious about this strange creature. From what I could see in the darkness, she was wearing a robe that almost reached to her feet that had a hood that obscured her face, except for the neon purple eyes. With the glow, I could see black bangs hanging down to her eyebrows. I decided to press my luck.

"What's your name? You already know mine."

"I am to be identified as 283 for identification convenience." Convenience, right. Why is she known as that?

"Alright, then, 283, who sent you too help me?"

"I am on a mission as per the request of the Queen."

That would make sense. The Queen of Mountainwall would have enough power to order someone to go on this job.

"Mia, I suggest that we continue on with our journey, for it will be a long one."

"What'll you ride? I only have Shadow with me."

I looked up to see my loyal dark grey horse, finding him casually grazing next to a black horse with purple eyes.

"Are we to mount and ride to the Frozen?"

I have a feeling that this is only going to weirder.

**This has been Mia of the Heralds chapter four. Thanks for all the support on this story! We have almost 100 views! This story takes place in the future for us. The whole thing with the journal takes place in the past. I hope you guys tune in next week for some more!**


	5. Chapter 5

Hoodie

One thing I quickly found out was that the tall, thin 283 was that she was talkative. _Extremely talkative. _She was also pretty loud, and more than one time I had to remind her that the monsters wouldn't burn up yet, and that she needed to be quiet. She would then talk quietly, only to slowly raise her voice until I had to remind her again. So far we had confirmed that her favorite color was yellow, mine was blue, and other silly stuff like that.

"Are we there yet?"

"What, to the Frozen?"

"Well, yeah."

"We're not even entirely out of Mountainwall's province. We should hit Birchwood by morning though."

"That sucks. How do this for a job? It seems really boring. What even is Birchwood?"

"A sawmill town." Almost all of the Five Cities had a few towns scattered around it. All except Mayla, which was built on the tree tops in the jungles. They rarely had to deal with monsters; and their main crops were coco beans and watermelon. I've heard that the weather is warm and humid, and it was an overall nice place to be.

"How long until morning? I'm bored out of my mind here. I wish something interesting would-"

"Don't you dare say it!" I shouted, but there was still some rustling in the leaves. "Son of a mooshroom!"

I stopped Shadow as quickly as I could. Bandits were not uncommon outside of the City. They also were slower and less deadly than Ends, but mind you, they were still deadly. Men on horses emerged from the bushes and blocked the path ahead. I turned around, but we were completely surrounded.

One of the bandits raised his voice. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? Just a Herald, all by herself." His voice sounded angrier now. "We want all your emeralds. And whatever's in the bag."

So I slid off my saddle.

Then suddenly, he was on the ground, with deep red blooming from his chest to the shoulder. Whatever got him seemed just like a blur, attacking and slashing the bandits, as if they were butter. One by one, each of the men fell off their horse. Then, just as it had started, it was over. It just stopped. And back at the head of the circle, a boy stood, shoulders rising up and down, as if he was out of breath.

He was wearing a black hoodie; with a small bit of black hair that was poking out, contrasting with the green edges. Over the jacket was an iron chest plate. In his hand, he held a diamond sword; blood dripping onto the dirt below. I could of sworn I saw something etched on it in the Old Language.

But as soon as he was there, he was gone.

**Hope you guys liked the chapter! Sorry I haven't updated the past few weeks, I've been busy. Thanks to ****King James10158****for "Hoodie." I'm still doing OC's. Have a good one!**


	6. James

James

We got to Birchwood a little over an hour later, surrounded only by the noise of the forest. I was refusing to talk to 283 on account that she left me in the dust when the bandits showed up. I didn't blame her, but that didn't stop me from denying her something she seemed to enjoy. On the other hand, I couldn't just stay in an angered silence, so I figured I would talk to her when we got to town.

My mind kept wandering back to the boy that had saved me from that sticky situation. I was curious about how he fought like that. I've never seen anything like that. You could think he was a Royal Guardsman, but he wasn't wearing a uniform, and given the amount of work it takes to become one, I'm certain that he would be wearing it if he was. That meant that he was alone, and I could hire him. I did have permission to get a bodyguard, but the problem wasn't my superiors. The problem was that I never saw his face. I kept thinking about it until we got into town.

Birchwood was tiny, but it definitely had a feeling of friendliness. Even though it was early morning, people were already walking the streets, going to venders, speaking to neighbors. The air smelled of tree sap and was filled with the noises of life. It was already getting warmer and it seemed like the entire world was drenched in the orange of the sunrise. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice me or my talkative companion. If they did, they just didn't seem to care. I was supposed to perform this task with upmost secrecy, and a Herald and an End surely would have brought a very bad kind of attention to the mission.

"Hey, 283?"

Her "name" was clunky sounding in my mouth. Maybe I could come up with a nickname or something.

"Yeah?" She answered, seemingly surprised at my sudden willingness to communicate.

"Are you hungry? Since we're in town we might as well grab something to eat."

It turned out that she was. This could be our last chance to eat something besides my admittedly disgusting travel rations. Hunting was a possibility, but, once again, I couldn't hit the broadside of a tree with my bow. Not to mention that I was a terrible cook. The idea was too good and we entered a restaurant: The King's Crown. I, of course, had to wonder why it was called that since His Majesty doesn't even wear a crown. I can't even think of any of our kings that wore a crown. Maybe I could ask the own-

Because I got a bit distracted with the prospect of recording new in my journal, I didn't notice the young man carrying a tray full of dishes. We rebounded off each other and fell down as plates and bowls scattered around us. The warm conversations of the patrons were suddenly replaced with silence. My face only got redder and redder as one final plate rolled to a stop. Hoping that everybody would hurry up and get on with their lives, I began to pick up dishes and set them back on the tray.

The worst part about it was how the silence was broken.

"Andrews! Get in here, now!"

The boy, who had since grabbed all the other dishes and put the tray on the counter, looked me in the eye. His almost black eyes seemed to show a mixture of annoyance and "_It's not your fault. I'll be fine." _It was the first time we even made eye contact, and _I knew._

It was him.

I don't exactly know how I knew, but it had to be the guy that saved me. He got up and walked past the counter to a back room where the yelling originated, setting the dishes on the counter in the process. The silence lingered a bit longer before people began to talk, mostly about what had just happened. Words like "Again?" and "Poor kid." seemed to echo around the small building. Guilt settled in my stomach. It was my fault that this had happened and he was going to get in trouble. I knew what I wanted to do.

A few minutes later, I was standing outside the door in the back. 283 went to pick up some supplies for the trip. With the Employees Only sign in front of me, I waited. And waited, and waited. After what seemed like an eternity, someone finally came through the door. It was him, but it looked like he had ditched the dishwasher apron. He only looked mildly surprised at my presence.

"Oh, it's you." He spoke first, before I had even come up with something to say. Oh well, first things first.

"I-I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" My face was getting warm as I stuttered out the apology. "I'd also like to thank you for saving me."

_That_ surprised him. "How did you know? I've never told anyone that."

"Truth is, I don't actually know. I guess it was just a feeling. But that's beside the point. I actually have a proposal for you."

"Alright, I'll listen."

I explained my mission: to deliver a package to the Frozen. I also explained what else had happened on this trip, from traveling with an End to being attacked by bandits. He was paying close attention, nodding and asking the occasional question, which I answered to the best of my ability. Once I had finished, he sighed.

"So you want me to travel with you and an End to the most dangerous place on Minecraftia, all so you can deliver a package?"

"Yes."

He grinned. "Sure, why not. It seems like quite the adventure."

Remembering one important detail I had forgotten earlier, I stuck out my hand. "My name's Mia."

He shook my hand and replied, "James, James Andrews. "

**Sorry for not updating in so long! I swear I'll do better this year! Thanks to King James10158 for James Andrews!**


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